BR: Renovation of the Heart

I finished Renovation of the Heart yesterday. In undergrad, I got to read Willard's Spirit of the Disciplines and really loved it. It was deep and well-thought out. A little deeper than Foster's popular disciplines book, Celebration of Discipline, but still really good. This book, however, was not as good. To be honest, this book was one of the more tedious books I have read. I read a lot of things for grad school that most people would immediately label tedious. This book made me want to read my grad school readings. I usually am reading five or six books at a time for school, and for the last month (another sign of tediousness) I have dreaded reading this one the most, even more than Ferguson's The Church of Christ. At one point, my goal was down to reading at least 5-10 pages a day in Renovation. Essentially, Willard presents his theological anthropology in the first 100 pages. It's deep; it's confusing. While I think understanding the correlation between mind, spirit, will, heart, body, and soul is important, his presentation is less than lucid. When I was checking out this book on Amazon, I saw that another guy has written a book simply to explain this one. That's how tedious it is. I think the level of tedium has been grasped here, so I'll move on. Basically, for a book in the realm of spiritual formation, I think this book is far from relevant; his thoughts are good, his applications are severely lacking. I would say that it is probably even borderline self-indulgent for Willard, an author for whom I have great respect. My problem with this book was admittedly exacerbated with a concurrent reading of Nouwen. Simple, profound, applicable. Willard? Not so much. Still in all things, seek the good. Here are some of the highlights:

- Willard is attempting to push a theological anthropology that will help Christians actually undergo significant spiritual transformation. A noble goal; indeed, THE noble goal.

- Perhaps the idea I will remember most from this book is that transformation of the will is end of transformation and not the beginning. I do not will myself to change and then change. I seek transformation through mind and heart, and thus my will is transformed. That is, by seeking transformation in my thought life, my heart will be transformed. As my heart is transformed, so I will begin to desire to do good. Thus, I train my body to act accordingly. Through habit, then, my will is transformed so that I begin naturally to desire the things of God. I cannot just will my will to desire holiness without first being transformed in mind and heart.

That's about the best I can come up with. One final note: this book drove me crazy with numerous split infinitives.